If I fall asleep with my glasses on (which happens when chilling and watching TV) it is not uncommon for me to wake-up and find fingerprint smudges on my glasses. I have not run the fingerprints but seems likely they are mine (no one else here so only other options are a weird gremlin or a weirder person who breaks in to my place to do that…going with me). No idea why I do that.
Dope thread fodder?
Who needs a better answer than that?
I’ve worn glasses since my 2nd trimester in utero. Those who said you should never clean ‘dry’ glasses are quite right. I always rinse them thoroughly with water first, and occasionally use the dish soap thing to clean the frames.
For me, eyelashes definitely leave their mark. I once trimmed my lashes (online sources suggest curling them upward – pass, thanks ) to see if it made a difference. It did – a big difference. But that was a one-off. Mystery solved, solution prohibitively unappealing.
Also, don’t use facial tissue, toilet tissue, or paper towel to clean/dry your lenses. Opticians call that “cleaning your lenses with a tree.” Cloths sold for the purpose, old t-shirts/handkerchiefs, and microfiber towels/cloths are better.
@LouMa ultrasonic eyeglass cleaner? Cool concept, but the minute I removed MY eyeglasses, set them in the machine, and walked away would be the last time I ever saw those eyeglasses. My uncorrected vision … well … I don’t have any uncorrected vision 
It only takes 90 seconds, you can just stand there and wait, then you can find your glasses again and the lenses are super clean! 
Yeah, undoubtedly eyelash mites. They burrow into the follicles and hang out there with their adorable little tails poking out alongside the lash. Don’t Google if you don’t want to have nightmares.
This is the problem. I once did.
There’s not enough brain bleach….
Impressive.
A good, smudge-proof mascara will also do the trick. I did that for a while but got bored of the extra work and waiting for the mascara to dry.
Some things you cannot unsee. And I have seen.
If you cook at all, you’ll have grease on your lenses. It’s astonishing how much goes airborne just from frying up some bacon.
I do that also, and then dry them with a microfiber cloth. I wash it on permanent press, then hang it out to dry since I uses a Downy sheet in the dryer and don’t want to get it contaminated.
I have lots of cards good for ultrasonic washes at my opticians, but it is not a place I usually walk near and so I only use them when getting a checkup.
I’m a glorified carpenter, so my glasses get sawdust etc on them all the time. I find interesting patterns in the dust from where my eyelashes have swept it away. The really fun days are when I end up with sawdust in my eyebrows and cause a new cascade of dust onto the glasses and into my eyes when I touch my eyebrow.
Link?
Regarding scratches I decided that my glasses were getting scratched when I put them in a basket while I washed my face at night, and possibly when I put them on the bedstand at night. With my latest pair, I have a soft case in the bathroom and a soft case next to the bed, and I dutifully insert my glasses there. So far it’s been over a year, no scratches.
I also think a lot of the gunk on my glasses is just plain dust. Or rather, dust and the protein and oil that gets flung off my eyeballs, mixed together as I try to clean my glasses only to make them worse.
I keep microfiber cloths at my desk, next to the couch, by my wallet, in the car and next to the bed. I wash them in the washing machine every so often.
People who are wetting their glasses with water…how are you drying them? I don’t want to have soggy microfiber cloths so I never wash mine with water.
The New York Times Wirecutter section advises against using ultrasonic cleaning devices. I use cold tap water and liquid hand soap and then dry them using one of those microfiber cloths that come with new glasses.
I have several dedicated cloths for cleaning my glasses and generally use one to dry and another one to finish.
But I am not always near water when they need cleaned so I just use the cloth. Inevitably after about 6 months or so I get a scratch.
I use these ClearWipe cloths. They work great and you can carry them for use when you’re not near a source of water.
Many, not all, brands of liquid hand soap include “lotion” = oil-based goop. That will not result in clean glasses; rather the opposite.
Good bet you buy non-lotion soap. Other folks may not. Liquid soap at work or in public is also a crapshoot.
never mind
Thank you!
I’ll get some of these for travel.
Thanks for the tip on the wipes. I went to Amazon, checked out the various choices and their reviews, and wound up buying two different highly scored brands at a better per-unit value.
FWIW, I’ve also tried Zeiss lens wipes, which are cheaper, and I thought would be at least as good, since Zeiss is a very respected name in optics. But I like the ClearWipes better. The Zeiss wipes have a very smooth texture that I don’t think is as effective as the ClearWipes, which have a microfiber texture that cleans better, IMHO.
I’ll be getting both brands early next week and if I remember to I’ll report back on a comparison test. I have three pairs of prescription glasses and choose one to wear all day each morning, so the buildup of gunk will be comparable enough to make it a useful trial.